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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-11-27 Daily Xml
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MODBURY HOSPITAL

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (14:27): My question is to the Minister for Health. What improvements have been made in delivering elective surgery at Modbury Hospital since it was taken back into government hands?

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:28): Can I say that the member for Florey is—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The deputy leader will come to order.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: —a passionate advocate for Modbury Hospital, which is in her electorate. In fact, I think it would be fair to say that no hospital has a more passionate advocate for it than the member for Florey in relation to the Modbury Hospital. Modbury Hospital was transferred back into the control and care of the state government at midnight on 1 July 2007.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is warned.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Today I can announce that, in its first year in government hands, elective surgery procedures at the Modbury Hospital have increased by 15 per cent on the 2006-07 years. In one year we have increased elective surgery procedures at Modbury Hospital by 15 per cent. That means that an additional 304 elective surgery procedures were performed at that hospital. This is beyond our expectations. We predicted in our state Health Care Plan a 10-year estimated increase of 12 per cent, and I informed the house of that on 21 June 2007. So, we have achieved the 10-year target in our first year.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the dedicated doctors and nurses at the hospital, who have ensured that the hospital is exceeding the ambitious targets that have been set for it. The South Australian Health Care Plan identified Modbury as a high-volume elective surgery site that would focus on the needs of its local community, and that hospital is certainly delivering on that. In fact, Modbury Hospital's performance has improved to the extent that, since September, the central northern region has identified an extra 89 patients who can receive their treatment at Modbury who would otherwise have gone to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, with 14 patients already scheduled for or receiving their surgery.

Further improvements in elective surgery performance are anticipated as funding is received from the commonwealth Elective Surgery Waiting List Reduction Plan, stage 2. The commonwealth provided South Australia with an additional $13.6 million for 2008 to undertake an additional 2,262 elective surgery procedures by 31 December this year, and a further $8.1 million has been committed by the commonwealth, with South Australia receiving $3.1 million in 2008-09 and $5 million in 2009-10.

These funds will be aimed at assisting hospitals to increase elective surgery in line with the commonwealth Elective Surgery Waiting List Reduction Plan and the South Australian Health Care Plan. This is a really great example of what it means to have a Labor government in Canberra—great cooperation and great coordination between the two levels of government, which has been unseen for years.

A considerable portion of the money I have just described will be directed to the Modbury Hospital, including $1.15 million for additional ward capacity and $763,000 to buy more surgical equipment. In addition, with the support of the commonwealth Elective Surgery Waiting List Reduction Plan, I advise that from February next year Modbury Hospital will reintroduce a plastic surgery service with the appointment of a visiting medical specialist. A fifth general surgeon has also been recruited, and he or she will also commence in February next year.

The increase in general surgery capacity has been planned to accommodate an increase in referrals, including cancer-related surgery. Waiting times for Modbury general surgery outpatient appointments and elective surgery are less than 90 days, which is a benchmark across the state. We are also securing the long-term future of the hospital by undertaking necessary infrastructure improvements to bring the hospital back to the standard the South Australian public health system had before it was privatised by the then Liberal government.

We have already undertaken works which include $1.7 million on upgrading the plumbing and $280,000 on removing asbestos and installing fire sprinklers. These may not be high-profile or glamorous additions to the hospital, but they are important in providing quality safety and care for all patients. In addition, we have committed a further $12 million to upgrade the facilities at Modbury.

Modbury Hospital has a strong future, and it is integral to South Australia's Health Care Plan, which will ensure that South Australians continue to have access to world-class health facilities well into the future. I commend the staff of Modbury Hospital once again for their great achievements.

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